Butterfly watching in Nepal

With 651 species, which is 3.72 percent of the world's butterflies, Nepal offers great butterfly-watching options.

Nepal offers fabulous destinations to see Great Orange Tips, Purple Sapphire Circles, Oakblues, common Brimstones, etc. Beautiful specimens of butterflies have for ages attracted butterfly experts to Nepal. These delightful creatures have been studied in Nepal for over 150 years. In the early days of the Raj, the British residents and their subordinates took considerable interest in butterflies and managed to collect several species that they meticulously studied and cataloged. But such activities have been banned in Nepal.

After 1950, it was the Japanese who took a particular interest in collecting butterfly species through scientific expeditions. It later resulted in the establishment of the Natural History Museum at Swayambhu in 1974. 

According to official records, Nepal has 651 species of butterflies which is 3.72 percent of the world's butterflies. Favored by Kathmandu Valley’s mild daytime temperatures, which hover around 18ºC in mid-winter, there are butterflies all year round. The best butterfly-watching seasons are late March/April, mid-May/mid-June and late August/September.

The forested areas in the valley are still home to many species of butterflies, and they include open country near Chobhar gorge, and there is very little activity except for the widespread Oriental species. About 10 percent of the butterflies in Nepal are Palaearctic species found above 3,000 m, and about 90 percent of Oriental species are found around Swayambhu, the base of the hills and forest streams at Godavari, Nagarjun, Budhanilkantha and Sundarijal. The forested hilltops of Phulchowki, Jamachowk and Shivapuri and the open scrubby bush areas of Nagarkot, Suryavinayak and Chandragiri are good areas for butterfly watching.